September 18, 1997
The No. 24-ranked Texas A&M men's golf team opens its fall season Friday and Saturday at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, site of the 1998 NCAA Championships.
The 23-team field includes 12 teams ranked in the preseason MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings, including defending tournament champion Texas (No. 12) and preseason No. 1 Oklahoma State. Other teams in the field are No. 4 UNLV, No. 5 New Mexico, No. 6 Arizona, No. 7 Arizona State, No. 13 Georgia, No. 17 Georgia Tech, No. 19 Brigham Young, No. 25 Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Stanford, Southern California, Texas-El Paso, Colorado State, Air Force, Cal-Irvine and San Francisco.
"We're excited about getting the season started at the site of the national championship next spring," said A&M coach Bob Ellis, entering his 24th season at A&M. "We have high expectations and are very optimistic about our season. We'd like to win the tournament or at least finish in the top five."
Representing A&M will be senior Miguel del Angel (McAllen, Texas), juniors Ty Cox (Amarillo, Texas) and Ryan Palmer (Amarillo, Texas) and freshmen Ryan Tull (Georgetown, Texas) and Clay Fullick (Baytown, Texas). Del Angel was an honorable- mention All-America pick last season after winning the NCAA Central Regional, while Palmer was a first-team All-Big 12 selection. Cox has played in all 29 tournaments in his career, while Fullick and Tull will be making their first collegiate appearances.
Last season, Palmer led A&M with a 73.61 stroke average and posted five top 10 finishes. Del Angel was second on the team with a 74.08 average, while Cox was fourth at 75.02.
Palmer, Cox and del Angel helped the Aggies to a 13th-place finish at the 1997 NCAA Championships, A&M's highest national finish since 1984. The Aggies finished third at the NCAA Central Regional and won the Border Olympics.
"Our three veterans will have to carry the load and hopefully Ryan Tull and Clay Fullick can contribute some low scores," Ellis said. "As a team, we want to win the Big 12 Championship this season and contend for the national title. Our top three guys could be as strong as just about anybody's."